Evan Ebel and the early release of violent prisoners (2 letters)

Your editorial critiquing early release of violent offenders highlights a more fundamental truth: Incarceration is not a solution to criminal violence. Evan Ebel was going to pose a violent threat to the public sooner or later.

The United States already has the highest percentage and highest absolute number of people incarcerated of any nation on Earth, and we have a far higher homicide rate than any other developed nation. We need to focus more on the roots of this problem and less on whether a violent offender is behind bars 115 days more or less. That means becoming a more proactive and less reactive society, investing in our children, in our communities, in our health and welfare, in the opportunities we have to thrive, and in taking better care of one another, as a society. Only in this way will we significantly reduce the degree of violence in this society.

First we find out that Evan Ebel, whose father is a close friend of Gov. John Hickenlooper, had 115 days cut from his sentence based on a new Colorado law rewarding bad behavior. Then there was a new revelation that he may have been released four years early because of a “clerical” error in changing a consecutive sentence to a concurrent sentence from the plea agreement. I have a hard time believing that Corrections is not allowed to ask any questions about documents sent to them. How many other clerical errors are benefiting violent felons?

Susan Mueller, Boulder

This letter was published in the April 2 edition.

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Evan Ebel was a danger to society probably since he was young. He should never have been paroled especially so early and never if he could not be rehabilitated which is evident. If my math is right and he first went into prison in 2005 + 8 + 4 additional for assault, who was it that released him early? This was not a clerical error! As his father and Gov. Hickenlooper are friends, may be THEY should be questioned. Hmmm?

kelcy

When the end of his sentence was reached he would have been released. Period. Our system of criminal justice does not support a life sentence unless imposed in a court of law. Just because someone “believes” the prisoner will continue to be a menace does not allow for the sentence to be extended. Yes, that is rotten when a released prisoner re-offends and hurts or even kills someone but as yet no one has a crystal ball that can guarantee which prisoners will do so and which will not.

mrfxx

Sadly, through COURT error (clerical error makes it sound like some secretary made a typo), a 4 year sentence for violence committed in prison after the original 8 year sentence was misconstrued as “concurrent” (to be served at the same time) as opposed to the intended “consecutive” (to be served once the original sentence was completed). I would have thought such a critical distinction would have been presented in the DA’s documents and carried through in the judicial documents – but apparently NEITHER word was used, and the “prison system” ASSUMED (and, yes, I used that word precisely because of the frequent “definition”) that the sentence was intended to be “concurrent”, FORCING the criminal’s release! (This was documented in other DP articles, but that is the recap since you CHOSE to either not read that information – or to dismiss it because it didn’t fit with your preconceptions.)

I can live with a law that clearly states that any crimes committed while one is imprisoned must be served consecutively – but I don’t know what else can be done. Prisons already “eat up” an inordinate part of our states’ budgets (plural intended – Colorado is hardly the only state with budget issues) – impacting a variety of services that might benefit some criminals: education/training (if one can’t get a job when released due to lack of skills the probability is very high that convict will return), mental health support (many violent crimes are committed due to mental health issues; I don’t know if all or even any of those prisoners can be “cured”, but the bottom line is that unless some attempt is made, we’ll never know), drug and alcohol addiction treatment (depending on the drug – I understand a LOT of crimes are related to addiction – and magically, users manage to find away to get their drugs EVEN IN PRISON), etc. It’s gotten even worse with the privatized portion of the system (which comes out of “different pockets” for taxpayers) which gets PAID BY THE HEAD! Are you ready to cut school (at all levels) building, maintenance and staffing even more? How about infrastructure? How about staffing police and fire departments?

By the way – since Hickenlooper had NO INVOLVEMENT in either the court case for the crime committed after imprisonment, I suggest you find out if the JUDGE or DA or those in the PRISON SYSTEM responsible for the release who were DIRECTLY involved in this massive mistake were friends of the father – or just outright INCOMPETENT!

Robtf777

“Your editorial critiquing early release of violent offenders highlights a
more fundamental truth: Incarceration is not a solution to criminal
violence. Evan Ebel was going to pose a violent threat to the public
sooner or later.”
===========
Incarceration separates the violent criminal offenders from their non-violent non-criminal victims……..which is actually a very good idea……unless the solution is to replicate what the Romans did 2,000 years ago…….and crucify anyone who posed a threat to the “peace and security” of the Empire……..including :mere” thieves and someone who’s only act of “violence” was to turn over the tables of “thieves” who used the Temple Grounds itself to rip off those who came to worship God.

As far as Ebel posing a threat “sooner or later”……later is preferred…..because that actually gives a violent predator like him more time to die in prison…….and, if locked up, he wouldn’t have been the one to murder a innocent pizza guy, the DOC director, and shoot and injure other cops in Texas.

The Liberal Solution is…..no solution. Liberals don’t like prisons……even for violent criminals who pose a threat to the general public. Liberals don’t like “prisons within prisons” (which is what “solitary confinement” or “segregation” is)……even for those who pose a threat to the safety and security of the rest of the prison population, including DOC Staff.

There IS a solution that has been shown time after time after time to actually work……that changes minds and changes hearts and changers behavior because it changes the person’s thought process. The ONLY solution that has ever been shown to work on any sort of consistent basis is……God…..Jesus…..the Bible……and showing even violent criminals where they will end up (hell for all eternity) if they don’t get their act together and have a change of heart and behavior……..and REPENT of the evil that they not only DO…..but THINK of doing…..of WANTING to do.

There is no other solution that Liberals can come up with that works……because the Liberal Ideology ITSELF (atheism) says and demands that NOTHING anyone does really matters in the long term…..in any eternal scheme of things. It’s hard for a Liberal to convince ANYONE “not to do wrong” when Liberals also claim that “when you die…..you die…..and you don’t exist anymore…..and feel nothing…..at all…..because you cease to even exist.”

We could drastically reduce both the crime problem and the prison population if we did what our country did for almost its first 200 years: Raise up generation after generation that were taught……in public schools…..the Bible…..God……Jesus……and that what people do……MATTERS……for all eternity.

140 years ago……people like Billy the Kid and Jesse James were the exception.

80 years ago…..people like Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde were the exceptions.

TODAY…..we have so many “Liberal-taught atheists”……committing so many crimes…..and committing so many Mass Murders……that it is actually EASIER for some people to still remember the exceptions from the 1880s and the 1930s……than it is to remember the name of the Hollywood Bank Robbers…..the Ft Hood shooter…..the Virginia Tech Shooter….the Columbine Killers…..the name of the guy at New Life Church…..the Connecticut School Shooter……because the “exceptions” of 100 years ago are becoming far more “common” today…….and there are just too many of them anymore.

Liberals have taken God and Jesus…..OUT of the lives of those raised in Public Schools…..replaced God and Jesus with ABORTION which says that “people can kill other living human lives…..for any reason they want to”……and people like Ebel are the end result of their stupid atheistic ideology.

peterpi

I know it’s pointless to condemn your routine liberal-bashing for every human-caused or nature-caused ill that has struck the United States since the San Francisco (naturally, right?) earthquake of 1908, but
1) There are criminals who have reformed without ever hearing the word of Jesus. Or Moses. Or Buddha. Some of the reformed ones were even atheists, believe it or not.
2) There are plenty of liberals who believe in God. I’ve been to churches and synagogues packed full of them.
3) I was raised in a godless public school and I believe in God. I bet tons of priests, rabbis, pastors, ministers, imams in the USA have gone to godless public schools and still found their calling with God. You want God in schools? Send your children to a private religious school.

peterpi

In 1964, the USA sent two married men into space, … in the same spacecraft … with interior cabin space smaller than a shoe box … for hours at a time …
Before 1964, there were no homosexual pride parades … all the states had sodomy laws …, and ever since then … the homosexual population has exploded in staggering numbers … and made political demands …
We are still sending men into space … in confined quarters and close physical contact to each other … and homosexuals are still increasing in power.

What I just wrote makes as much sense as Robtf’s correlation.

DR

You could have just typed out a string of completely random letters and punctuation marks and it would have made as much sense as any of Rob’s crackpot correlations.

primafacie

FYI, 1906 for the San Francisco earthquake. Although, truth be known, they probably had another in 1908. And a week after that. And another a month later….

peterpi

Thanks for the correction.
I have a sister who lives in Oakland, and every time I visit there, I wonder whether that’s when the next “Big One” will hit, LOL.
I mean the addition of one more liberal in the area, even temporarily, might be enough to cause a distubrance in the Force or incur God’s wrath, according to Robtf.

primafacie

I grew up in the Bay Area, where we got used to several magnitude 2s and 3s every day. You don’t really notice them until suddenly the needle on your record player bounces and coffee cups fly off the shelves.

Gawd, I miss it…. LOL

peterpi

We could re-start the Rocky Mountain Arsenal deep injection well, and within a few weeks or months, you’ll feel right at home all over again.

DR

After reading this mind-numbing rant of idiotic, rambling nonsense I’ve to come to a realization. Rob and the people that think like him do far more damage to their theology than any atheist could ever hope to do. Keep up the good work Rob!

peterpi

Spot on observation.
Mahatma Gandhi is allegedly to have said (although it’s disputed) something like “I like your Jesus, but spare me some of your Christians!”

Evan Ebel was released 4 years early because of a most unfortunate clerical error, reported on the news yesterday and this morning. Shame on the cynical people who are accusing the Governor of collusion in securing early release for Ebel.

clare Sewell

Don’t believe it was a clerical error period. I’ve always heard the secretary or clerk get blamed for the wrongdoer.

Clare, it is never morally okay to make accusations, even informally, in the complete absence of any evidence to support those accusations. If the Governor were not a political figure, it would probably be a legally actionable offense, because it’s the reckless allegation of an almost certainly false fact that is materially damaging to an individual’s reputation. You may live in a world and be a member of a faction that thrives on such things, but it is harmful to us as a people.

guest

Say what? Clare gave you her opinion which if I’m right we have the freedom to do in the country. I don’t see anyone named (other than a wrongdoer) so I don’t see where she was blaming the Governor. It appears Steve was the one who mentioned him.

Your accusation is much more harmful to us as a people because it was designed to try and cow Clare into being quiet.

disqus_an29jYPkvn

Two people “allegedly” murdered with malice aforethought, by a “person” (using the term very loosely) who had a long history of absolute contempt for the law, or any degree of authority, who was mistakenly released back in to public circulation by a court system that is completely immune from reproach for any “mistakes” it made or may make, and we have people on this state & in this thread scratching their liberal heads trying to ascertain “where the system went wrong!!?” What parole board in it’s collective right mind could look at this man’s social history & deem him a candidate for release back in to public? If this is the best our “educated experts” can do, perhaps it’s time we start crewing our parole boards with blue collar, work-a-day folk who actually have some degree of common sense. I’m absolutely certain that the next civil war, (& make no mistake about it, there is one coming) is going to be fought between those who have the common sense to come in out of the rain, & those who think they can turn their faces to the sky & stare the storm down without drowning.

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